The major objectives of this comparative research of law in a pluralistic society are the description and anaysis of law and methods of confict resolution and dispute settlement in indigenous Fijian and Fiji-Indian communities. An analysis of intra-societal variations on a rural-urban scale of socio-economic development will supplement the analysis of cross-cultural differences. Modes of operation, range of application, and efficiency limits of customary procedures of dispute settlement will be contrasted with the use and functions of government courts. The consequences of imposed legal change brought about by the recent abolition of special native courts will be explored. Long-term field studies at different research sites in Fiji, using the contextual case-method approach, are expected to yield a systematic accumulation of empirical data. Their analysis will seek to determine the relationship between such variables as structural levels of conflict; types, expressions, and frequencies of conflict; sources and cultural determinants of conflict; and structural and psychological consequences of conflict. The expected results of the proposed project will contribute to general theories of conflict behavior and dispute settlement. By providing comparative evidence the research will also contribute new empirical data and theoretical insights to interdisciplinary efforts directed at an understanding of certain legal problems in many developing nations as well as in contemporary United States. These concern the cultural conditions that influence and limit the administration of justice in multi-ethnic, culturally heterogeneous societies and those that determine behavior dispositions that bring people into conflict with customary traditions and the established legal order.